On the April edition of New Zealand Management Magazine, ANZ's CEO Ralph Norris quotes "I'd be a lot happier for government not to be a shareholder in the business. I don't think investment in an airline is desirable for a government. I expect their shares to be disposed over time."

During the interview, Norris seems to have positive confidence about ANZ's future. Norris quote "My job is to get on and run the business commercially - not as an arm of social policy. I wouldn't have taken the role if I'd see Air New Zealand as an arm of the government. and "I'm here to steer this company around and I believe the relationship between management and the board will be a good one," he said.

Air New Zealand's stock jumps 13% (NZ$0.05)on monday's trading to NZ$0.43, with volume of 1.4 million share. The big jump is due to the comment from Norris about NZ Gov. selling ANZ shares.

In addition, UBS Warburg said Air New Zealand will benefit from a stronger New Zealand dollar, lower fuel expense, recovering demand, and plans to focus on low cost services.

With regards to the low-cost services, I think it's a dangerous move if they go the full hog and try to become a Virgin Blue on short haul flights. I suspect NZ will instead remove business class from domestic flights (except for perhaps AKL-WLG-CHC) and services to the South Pacific (though not Tahiti).

Except for govt. officials, I don't really see the point of biz class flights on such short internal services.

And fingers crossed that a suitable investor is found. NZ's future is slightly more secure than a few months back, but there's still a very long way to go. My personal preference: Emirates & SQ in a joint venture. Sigh, if only.